Loose Lips - Love You 7" Loose Lips

Now THIS is punk rock. Meet Loose Lips, a band so great that we won’t even waste our time trying to sell ‘em to you - not when we could all just agree that they’re the greatest band in the universe instead. The more studious among you - fuckin’ nerds - will know that one of the main reasons anyone heard of this punk rock thing in the first place is that four dudes from Queens (subtle clue: each adopted the name ‘Ramone’) decided they wanted to recreate the classic radio pop music they’d grown up with, and duly did so with the power and crunch of prime ‘60s garage rock thrown in. Well, it looks like someone just perfected that formula.

Fast-forward to our present day’n’age, and a mighty fine trio from Melbourne have applied the Ramones’ theory with no little finesse. Loose Lips have a pretty fine pedigree - guitarist Josh Hardy plays in smoko champs The Chats; bassist Ethan Stahl used to live in the UK, where he served time in London pub rockers Chubby & The Gang; and drummer Nadine Muller also makes a hell of a racket with Drunken Sailor’ powerpop titans The Prize. But the one thing they all have in common is a love of three things: classic pop like The Shirelles and The Shangri-Las, pummelling garage clatter a la The Standells, and good old-fashioned punk rock in the vein of the New York Dolls and The Scientists. Put all these influences together with an uncanny knack for hooks and… well, yes, power, and you’ve a recipe for magic.